Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had campaigned against corruption before coming to power. However, it has not taken steps to curb corruption or punish the accused. A case in point is the infamous multi-crore irrigation scam, where the powers that be have taken zero action.
Apart from the irrigation scam, the BJP had campaigned against alleged corruption in 2G spectrum allocation, the Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and other BJP leaders had attacked Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government tooth and nail in the 2014 elections and assured all citizens that the top politicians who were involved in the scams would be behind the bars if the BJP is voted to power.
In the Adarsh scam, a chargesheet was filed during the tenure of Congress government. When BJP government came in power at the Centre and in the state, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) again filed an application to give sanction to prosecute former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan before the governor.
Mr Chavan’s relief by the high court is a jolt for the BJP-led government because only NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal has landed behind bars because of court orders. Party sources said the BJP-led government needs to concentrate on legal issues, otherwise it will affect the party during its 2019 election campaign.
In the irrigation scam, BJP had made allegations against former ministers Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare, among others; and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which has been investigating the irrigation scam for the past three years, could not pinpoint legal evidence to put the ministers who are allegedly guilty behind bars.
Party sources said this is affecting the public perception about BJP, making it appear that the saffron party levels baseless allegations for political reasons. So now, Mr Fadnavis is keen to take action in the irrigation matter in next the few days, they added.
